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Facebook has announced changes to its news feed flagged last year which will have the effect of prioritising posts from friends and video content over posts from media outlets and businesses.

For news outlets and pages this will change the likelihood of their posts appearing in your news feed.

Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s head of News Feed wrote in a post that Facebook was built to bring people closer together and build relationships

He wrote: “With this update, we will also prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people. To do this, we will predict which posts you might want to interact with your friends about, and show these posts higher in feed. These are posts that inspire back-and-forth discussion in the comments and posts that you might want to share and react to – whether that’s a post from a friend seeking advice, a friend asking for recommendations for a trip, or a news article or video prompting lots of discussion. We will also prioritize posts from friends and family over public content…”

“Because space in News Feed is limited, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we’ll show less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses.”

According to Mosseri page posts that generate conversation between people will show higher in News Feed. For example, live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook – in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos. Many creators who post videos on Facebook prompt discussion among their followers, as do posts from celebrities. In Groups, people often interact around public content. Local businesses connect with their communities by posting relevant updates and creating events. And news can help start conversations on important issues.

If you still want to see all content from a favourite page or business, you will still be able to; you’ll need to change the appropriate preference setting to see posts from your favourite pages.

This change is a sure-fire reminder that Facebook is there to make money and not just to give a business or publisher a free platform to promote itself and drive traffic. Organic reach will continue to decline for them and necessitate a rethink on the sort of content they provide and the level of sponsorship they will need or future posts.

If you’re a brand and can generate engagement, discussion and sharing then you may still be able to generate organic reach. However, all brands will need to rethink their content marketing strategies and decide how important Facebook is to their marketing programs.

Facebook has introduced these sorts of changes before and now it’s up to users and advertisers to react and respond.

Hopefully one meaningful change to news feed will be the penalising of publishers who seem to thrive on clickbait-type articles and headlines. We’re looking at you, Fox Sports!

Of course, it is helpful to have informative content for the benefit of your customers and site visitors, but ultimately Google will need to be told which of your articles are the most important – especially where you write a number of posts about similar topics.

Cornerstone content then are those articles (or a static page on a topic) that you feel are the most informative and that you would like to rank highly in search engines. The key then is to create internal links to that page of content or article. Internal links are an important ranking factor.

It’s possible to have more than one cornerstone page on a website. You may have one for each of several key topics.

Cornerstone articles can be long, including everything relevant and important for your readers about the topic. Make sure it uses good SEO practice – keyword focused, headings, imagery etc. Smart internal linking can push this article up in the search results. It’s a good idea to update it regularly and expand on it when possible.

You should link all your other posts about a similar topic to that article. An internal linking structure will increase the chance of your content article ranking in Google.

If you’re using the WordPress platform, the Yoast SEO Premium plugin makes it easy for you to identify which are the cornerstone articles and to be prompted to link to them.

The first goal of cornerstone content is usefulness and relevancy to the visitor, no matter how they arrive.

The second goal is to make that content so compelling and comprehensive that people are willing – no, make that excited – to link to it.

Benefits of creating cornerstone content

It provides a very informative source and value to readers

Google is responsive to these sort of articles and they rank well in search engines

Cornerstone content helps you boost your blog’s credibility

People will be more likely to share this content on social media

It can attract back-links from other authoritative sources

Ultimately direct a lot of traffic and hopefully new subscribers and customers.

The benefits of linking can be seen by Fairfax media in all their articles and newsletters where they are constantly linking back to their own stories. They are forming content clusters with their authoritative journalism and feature articles.

The Australian Financial Review will link back to a feature article (hyperlinked in blue) on the imposition of the big bank levy in all their articles related to this topic – a cornerstone article.

A content article that amazes us on our own blog with the constant traffic it receives is an article about the difference between publicity and public relations. It works because it provides answers on a topic, is informative, responds to a search query, and is shareable. And, as you can see, we will link back to it wherever possible as cornerstone content.

It’s not a new phenomenon and has been part of our daily consumption for many decades; in fact, it’s difficult not to name a product or company that hasn’t engaged in some form of celebrity endorsement.

Celebrities can be a vehicle for brands to reach out to new audience niches as well as the mainstream.

Success can add millions in brand value through positive association and the power of aspiration.

Consumers are well aware that these arrangements are paid for but will see past that if the association is credible and real.

Guy Sebastian has recently been announced as AirAsia’s brand ambassador in Australia in a deal that promises to work well for both parties. AirAsia receive the benefit of a very likeable personality with a clean image in the vast entertainment industry.

AirAsia sees the synergy of entertainment and travel working together in a lifestyle brand sense to appeal to their audience, produce engaging content and attract attention across borders.

Sebastian in turn is looking to promote himself further across Asia and AirAsia’s massive reach will assist. The airline has worked before with musicians in other markets and several top executives are former music industry executives including the co-founder, Tony Fernandes.

AirAsia X Group CEO Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said the airline was thrilled to have Guy on board calling him a “natural fit for AirAsia”.

“Guy embodies AirAsia’s values and ideals with his support of the community through charity work and will promote AirAsia’s brand,” he said.

In an interesting twist, about the time Sebastian was announcing the arrangement with AirAsia, controversial Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios parted ways as an ambassador for Malaysia Airlines after just one year. Sometimes the relationship just doesn’t work out, or maybe, wasn’t a good fit to start with.

In another format, Australian radio and TV personality Jules Lund has established a marketing start-up called Tribe which targets brands that want to get active in social media through associating themselves with brand personalities or ‘influencers’.

The marketplace model allows users (influencers) to bid online to provide services or endorsements for a product or brand which can then be purchased by that brand. Tribe promises ‘authentic advocacy’, with influencers choosing brands, not the other way around.

Tribe has just completed a round of funding to fuel expansion in technology and markets. It has claimed to have worked with more than 500 brands and have about 4500 influencers on its books.

If you’re considering a brand ambassador here’s a checklist of some key considerations:

Choose the right brand ambassador! What are they going to do for you and who do they appeal to? Is their association with your brand or product believable? Do your research thoroughly.

It needs to be a two-way relationship with real benefits for both parties. It’s not just about dollars.

All obligations and terms need to be set out in writing for executing. And, also allow for the arrangement not working out.

Meet regularly to manage obligations under the contract and explore new opportunities.

How will you measure the success or otherwise of your investment? Is it in sales, audience recall, specific brand attribute measurements, or digital media traction? Be clear with your own goals and expectations.

If you’re in the tourism industry and looking to enhance or begin your social media and online presence, then there’s some key considerations to think through and some planning required. Have a look at what other successful businesses are doing and learn from their efforts.

Think about what types of online media your audience is likely to use. Is it Snapchat, Facebook or Twitter? Or something else? And don’t forget about TripAdvisor. Many consumers rely on online reviews for their decision making. Peer influence is very important in the process. Over 50% of Facebook users say their friends’ photos have inspired their choice of holiday and shaped their travel plans.

Here are five key considerations to shape your tourism social media efforts:

1. Be informative

Your goal should be to become an authority on your region and its attractions. Avoid the temptation to simply plug your own business at every opportunity. You will win a loyal following if you’re able to provide a regular flow of useable information that provides advice and tips for visitors.

Provide accurate updates on local happenings and interesting events, new tourism product, travel conditions and yes, even the weather.

Suggest a list of key things to visit, great photo spots, provide maps and amazing photos.

If you employ an imaginative and informative content strategy it will help in SEO and have your business rank more highly on search results.

If you give potential visitors value in terms of superior content, they are more likely to have a connection with your brand.

2. Be authentic

Be real and believable.

The effect of ‘gilding the lily’ can be a loss of confidence in your business by visitors and result in negative online reviews and an erosion of trust with your audience.

Show what the experience is that visitors can truly expect – accommodation, activities, scenery, food and most importantly the character and characters around you.

A rising tide floats all boats, so the more you can accurately enhance the profile of your region the better for you. There’s not a finite amount of success available.

3. Involve your audience

Social media is very much a two-way street. Interact with and have a conversation with your online community. Ask questions, ask for feedback and invite them to contribute content. You’ll be amazed at how many gorgeous photos, stories and experiences can be shared from your own visitors.

Post regularly across all your social and online assets. It doesn’t need to be every day for each medium but you should feature regularly and make sure you are responding to messages and thanking your community for their involvement. They will like being appreciated. And, don’t forget to share…

This is good advice if you’re building your social media presence and intend to use it as a useful marketing tool and a source of information for your audience including potential customers.

A dedicated social media presence takes time and requires daily attention and some planning.

Don’t feel you need a presence on all social media accounts, especially if your resources and time are limited (Do you really need that Pinterest account?), but narrow down the key ones to a manageable few and make a concerted effort on those. It’s better to do a few channels well than a lot poorly.

Here’s some other key tips to help you save time and be more effective.

Implement a content management planA proactive social media presence requires a solid content marketing plan. Your audience will respond more positively if your content is well thought out and timely.

It doesn’t need to be complicated. Maybe call it an editorial calendar and identify key dates, events, holidays or seasons. Work out a monthly plan and break it down into weeks. Is there a specific theme for the month? Is it a holiday or a summer related activity you wish to promote?

Try and mix up your content so it’s not too repetitive but make sure it’s all relevant. Indicate which platform it will be posted on and what external resources are required e.g. images, video etc.

Identify your clear target audience for each post and keep them in mind when you create the content.

Use a social media management platformThere are various tools that help you manage multiple social media accounts and platforms. Some of these include Hootsuite, SproutSocial and TweetDeck.

There are others but these are three popular suites that can integrate your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts (and others), enable posting to different accounts from one central dashboard, view numerous feeds and schedule posts in advance, which can be a lifesaver.

These tools also have the added advantage of giving you metrics of all your accounts in one place like your reach and levels of engagement.

SproutSocial also has a nifty service called Landscape for resizing an image beautifully for each social media platform.

Practice social media listening
Social listening is the art of listening in to conversations taking place and being willing to engage or join in the conversations.

If you’re not monitoring your accounts then you will be missing out on important feedback and insights into your community and customers.

It’s important to note that many customers may not say exactly what they feel directly to you or on your page; their criticism may be on an anonymous page or competitor profile. Put simply, you need to expand your efforts in just looking in the obvious places for feedback.

The above companies also incorporate social media monitoring into their tools where you can monitor sentiment and search for key words or terms.

Put simply, there’s no point in engaging in a social media marketing effort if you’re not going to monitor and interact with your audience.

So you’ve gone to the trouble and expense of setting up your social media platforms and engaging in a content marketing program to share topical content you believe will be of interest.

But what do your customers really think of you?

For some time now we’ve seen and heard of examples of individuals causing quite a storm with seemingly localised complaints or comments which have caught fire and resonated far and wide.

But it’s important to note that many customers may not say exactly what they feel directly to you or on your page; their criticism may be on an anonymous page or competitor profile. Put simply, you need to expand your efforts in just looking in the obvious places for feedback.

Social listening is the art of listening in to conversations taking place and being willing to engage or join in the conversations.

There are several good social listening and monitoring platforms available including from iSentia, Meltwater and Hootsuite. These platforms set up correctly can give you an accurate and real-time indication of the sentiment being displayed towards you and your brand, and identify the key influencers and sceptics. Conversations can be monitored by channel and interacted with in the appropriate way and priorities identified. Social factors are also very important in ranking algorithms for search.

With the right tools you can listen in multiple languages, geo-locate your searches to be where your audience is, use conversation maps to monitor emerging trends and keywords, filter out unwanted noise, and quickly identify key influencers.

Successful social companies are already contacting disgruntled customers with a possible solution before they have the opportunity to become militant. Airlines, like Qantas and Virgin, are becoming adept at this and addressing many issues at the point of frustration and in real time. Needless to say I find it often easier and quicker to get a Twitter response from Telstra these days than trying the call centre.

Glad Australia recently had no choice to but to listen with a wave of backlash over their ill-considered decision to change the cutter on their cling wrap product. Instead of tearing in a downward motion, like we’ve done for decades, Glad decided to change the cutter to the top of the box thereby forcing users to pull up. It just didn’t make sense and infuriated many including yours truly. A back-flip has ensued and common-sense prevailed with Glad soon reverting to the original design.

Cricket Australia has continued to evolve its digital prowess as it splits its corporate web presence from its evolving content arm.

Cricket.com.au is now solely devoted to cricket content in the form of coverage, scores, video and live audio match-streaming. A corporate site has been developed at CricketAustralia.com.au which contains the more corporate information which may not be of interest to the casual fan.

Importantly, the content site has grown its newsroom from two journalists and editors to 11. Clearly content is king for Cricket Australia and it has seen a return in impressive traffic numbers to its site over the last 12 months with unique visits in 2013/14 almost double that of the previous season.

Cricket.com.au is now rivalling the previous undisputed king of cricket websites, Cricinfo, for coverage and analysis particularly in regards to Australian cricket happenings. Some big name writers and journalists have been employed to provide comprehensive reviews, match previews and features. Interestingly these writers are given much free reign in what they cover – the good and the bad of Australian cricket, and the result is balanced coverage – not just written to serve their employers’ interests.

This does wonders in the important credibility stakes for Cricket Australia’s content marketing strategy.

The goal of content marketing is to attract and retain customers by creating and curating relevant and valuable content. Once the content is created it can be delivered to an audience through relevant platforms including websites and social media.

Two corporates that are doing good things with content marketing include GE Money and the Commonwealth Bank.

GE Money earlier in 2014 launched its Art of Money online magazine which provides advice and insights from contributors in the key subject areas of Home, Car, Life and Travel. There’s also a Money IQ quiz to see how financially savvy you are.

Art of Money is not heavily branded as GE Money, though it doesn’t hide it totally either. Rather it provides advice, tips, real life scenarios – in short: great content and is well worth checking out. It’s a soft sell for relevant GE Money products. Even if you don’t become a customer of GE Money you can’t help but be left with a positive impression of this site as a resource.

Similarly the Commonwealth Bank has put much effort into developing valuable content and advice for its blogs including money management, technology, community, business and property.

Flight Centre is also significantly ramping up its content creation capabilities as it continues to lead the way as a one-stop travel provider. It has appointed former News Limited Escape editor Brian Crisp to be Editor-in-Chief of its content team.

You don’t have to be a large business like these to employ a content marketing strategy. One can be created to suit your budget and resources. But it is clear that it has become an important component of any marketing program.

Use the platforms that you own to demonstrate your expertise rather than just relying on third party endorsements which are much harder to control and secure.